joff-turbo-nova

The other option I was considering when the time comes was to solder a new arm onto the existing copper arm with a new carbon block from another 12v modern motor - just not found the right motor yet Joff

Morning all, just thought I would pop in and say "hi" - been registered on here quite a while but only used as a source of information - I now happy to start contributing - I specialise in the 1980's era 12v gear and you will note from my two recent posts I have been busy repairing some 12v motors and signals. Did my first show a few weeks back and although hard work , I had loads of parents thanking me for displaying old Lego and bringing back memories from their childhood.... My display was a mix of old 80's Lego and a few bits of my son's more newer sets. Since the show I have been slowly swapping out the newer stuff for classic sets for the next show in April, but I think I will keep the construction gear as they are cool ! I'm based in East Yorkshire in the UK and am really enjoying getting back into the bricks again! Jonathan

So last week I needed to open up a 12v 80's era signal unit as the green LED was starting to fail and I wanted to see if I could repair the unit, as second hand ones are close to £20 delivered to me. First job, break out the scalpel and unseal the unit... This gives us the components - front , back and circuit board... The red LED was working fine... The green one not so... It's a simple circuit design with 2 LED's and one resistor to drop the voltage to 2.2v Sourced some replacement LED's from eBay which will work around the 2.2v area... And then proceeded to unsolder the old green LED and replace with the new one.. Then time for a test.... All was good so the unit was resealed and ready for further duty. I've never seen the insides of one of these units or even any pictures on the web, so here you go.. Jonathan

Last night I completed a refurbishment of a rather poorly 12v train motor. The contacts had worn giving intermittent working and the bushes were squealing like a pig so it was time to open up the case... First off made a jig to hold everything secure... I used my scalpel to cut into the case as shown on the red lines here... Then flipped the jig over and pushed down on the axles which released the two halves of the case leaving this in the jig... And the motor part in all its grotty glory.... Took the metal blocks out and started stripping down the axles and motor - +30 years of grime.... Also noticed that a wiring disc had become unsoldered - another cause of the rough running... The contacts were removed - you can see how uneven the wear has been... Got two bb53's from Bricklink specifically for their pickups... And split them open... The bb53 contacts have "nipples" on them which the motor contacts do not so these were filed flat... After that everything was cleaned with methylated spirits , the wiring plate resoldered, greased and reassembled.... Then glued and clamped.. And then after an hour taken for a test run.... https://i.imgur.com/CCPQZyD.mp4 I think the patient will live !!! Joff

For the UK people out there its available for pre-order from Amazon UK :- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lego-Trains-Book-Holgar-Matthes/dp/1593278195/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504870861&sr=8-1&keywords=lego+train+book Joff